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Friday, January 6, 2012

Christmas Card 2011

I know! I know! Enough already with Christmas. Actually, I think this is the Day of Epiphany and so I think we can still talk about Christmas.

Anyway... I have already confessed that I always make cards and feel like I have to live up to others' expectations. I also confessed that this year I was cutting myself some slack. SOOOO, this is the easy and inexpensive card I made this year.
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This one is a little worse for wear. It was returned to sender after a couple weeks.

A photo (You will need to trim the length of a 4 x 6 photo down to about 5.5".)

A coordinating sticker.

Directions:

On your computer, change the paper size in your page set up menu to something that is longer than 12". This will allow you to print all the way to the edges of the paper. Use landscape layout. You will need to experiment with placement. I used 12x12 paper I didn't like or taped together regular paper both cut to 8 x 12 to practice. You will make 2 copies of the card on each page.

For the outside, use the drawing tools to draw three parallel lines in red and green. I liked mine to touch each other. I later straightend the top green line. Once you get everything perfect, make a second copy on the page. I inserted text boxes everywhere I wanted text.

Decide on the the placement of your message and your return address. Practice! Practice! Practice! Maybe other people don't have to practice as much as I do. Don't tell me if you don't. I feel inadequate enough without any help!

Cut a 4x12 inch strip off each sheet of cardstock, then use the remaining 8 x 12 paper to print the backs of your cards.

Now... practice the inside. Use your practice pages to see where to fold your card. On the small flap on the listed the family members in the photo. Write your message on the right.

The more you practice the less paper you will waste.

Once I had printed all my 8 x 12 papers, I printed the cards on the leftover 4 x 12 strips. That way I got 3 cards from each sheet of cardstock.

For the sticker, I ran shiny gold paper through my sticker maker. Make sure it will keep the card closed. I only had repositionable adhesive stickers, so I ended up reinforcing the seal with glue.

In all, the cost for about 36 cards was less than $10.00, including photos.